gakickstartercrunchybits (1)

8/12/2019 GAKickstarterCrunchyBits (1)

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Note: this is army point value is our assumption of a default tournament game. Home games or

playing out of the box will be different.

Class Approx Point Range Approx ratio to smallest golem

War Sprite 30-40 1 - 1.5x

Ogre 40-60 1.5 - 2xTitan 80-160 3 - 4x

Colossus 300-400 10 - 13x

Knight 0 - 15 0 - .2x

Blood Knight 5 - 30 .15 - 1x

Ancient One 10 - 100 .33 - 3x

Golems

Golems are the only unit type that can move and attack on the battlefield, and thus Golems arethe backbone of any army. Golems, represented on the board with large-scale pre-painted

plastic miniatures, are crafted from one of four magical Codexes handed down from the Ancient

Ones. Multiple copies of a Golem can be used within an army and yet end up with different

capabilities based upon which Golem Knight is assigned to each copy of the figure.

Golem Knights

Golems come with generic Knights who have do not have an ability. Players can assign a

named Golem Knight which has an ability that can modify, enhance, or augment the capabilities

of their Golem or the Golems around them. Some provide additional non-combat abilities such

as mana discovery or healing. The Golem Knights are represented as digital characters and areassigned to Golem figures via the App.

Blood Knights

Blood Knights are Golem Knights who are descended from Ancient Ones. Their bloodline

connection to these powerful supernatural beings allows them to channel mana from the

battlefield to the Ancient Ones and in return, ask their ancestors for blessings, curses, and

miracles in return. From a gameplay point-of-view, Blood Knights are exactly like Golem Knights.

From an army building point-of-view a player can only add Ancient Ones to his or her army if they

already have one of their descendents (i.e. a Blood Knight) in their army. Note that even if the

Blood Knights Golem is removed from play, the connection to the Ancient One remains intact

and its special abilities remain available.

Ancient Ones

Ancient Ones accumulate mana for the player to spend on blessings, curses, and miracles

which aid the players army on the battlefield. Blessing and Curses - buffs and debuffs

respectively - are cast upon regions and stay there for the remainder of the game unless

countered by another special ability. Miracles are instant benefits to the players team.


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Game Setup and Number of Players

Battlefield Design

Our prototype uses a printed map that is smaller than the battlefield players can create with thesix 3x3 terrain tiles that come with the base game. (To give you a sense of scale, each region

can hold up to four of the smaller Golems.) Players can expand their battlefield by adding

additional terrain tiles from expansion sets, but you cannot use the same terrain tile twice in a

battlefield because they must remain uniquely numbered. In the final game, the players will

decide how to lay out the terrain tiles for their battlefield and inform the Golem Arcana App of their

battlefield design (either by tapping each tile or via a drag and drop interface).

Teams and Players

Golem Arcana will support 2-8 teams and each team is able to support multiple players. Thus,

the game can handle those rare-but-truly-epicly-huge battles. We envision that the standardgame will be two teams of one player each and that most organized league play and

tournament play will be the same. This may change based upon feedback, of course!

Victory Conditions

Our prototype only included the last man standing victory condition but the final game will have

a variety of victory conditions that players can select when they start a game. In the final game

we are planning to include at least the following victory conditions:

Last man standing - in which the player with the last remaining Golem wins.

King of the Hill- in which the first player to take control of an area for a total of X turns

wins.

Find the Relics- in which players explore the battlefield looking for hidden relics of the

Ancient Ones. Once discovered, they must transport them back to their base. First

player to accumulate X relics wins the game.

Escort - in which one player wins if they successfully escort an AI controlled unit from

point A to point B and the opponent wins if they are able to destroy the AI unit before it

reaches point B. (Of course, this will require us to hit our AI stretch goal!)

Scenarios

Scenarios can be downloaded into the App to provide new challenges and fresh game play

options. Scenarios will be based on specific terrain tile sets so that you can use scenarios for

the tiles you own.

Scenarios include the following elements:

Battlefield design.

The scenario will specify a battlefield design and display how to lay out the terrain

tiles it incorporates.


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Number of teams

Army point total for each team

Terrain modifications

Scenarios can change the play dynamics of regions on the terrain tiles of the

battlefield. For instance, the water on a tile might be frozen, making it passable by

walking Golems, or specific forests regions might be on fire so that they causedamage to Golems occupying them.

These changes can be in effect at the start of the game or can change over the

course of a battle. for instance the fire might start in one region and spread to

others over the course of the game.

Objectives

Scenarios can include objectives to be accomplished during the game, such as

controlling a specific region on a specific turn or attacking a scenario unit such as

a command post.

Scenarios could be won by accomplishing objectives or game dynamics could

change via the accomplishing of objectives. For instance, a scenario mightinclude an objective to find the tomb of an Ancient One. To explore a region, the

player has to move a Golem to that region and then perform no attacks for one

turn. The player who finds the tomb first has that Ancient One added to their army

for the remainder of the game.

Victory conditions

Every scenario has specified victory conditions which can incorporate the victory

conditions mentioned above or can be a custom combination of the standard

victory conditions and the scenario specific objectives.

Golem StatisticsGolems movement, defense, and attacks are defined by a set of statistics. All the values used in

the prototype are not really balanced yet (we need to take all the units we havent created yet into

account) and thus will change before the final game is released.


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The prototype Golem information screen for the Durani Stone Knight (now

called the Hamazi Winged Preserver)

In the prototype Golems have the following elements and statistics:

Class

Base size

Number of Golem Knights

Movement Points Diagonal Movement

Dodge

Armor

Health Points

Attacks

Target type

Range

Accuracy Bonus

Damage

Recharge Rate Attack Effect

We anticipate adding the following additional statistics for the final game:

Movement Type

Attack Type

Armor Type


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Class

There are four classes of Golems, from smallest to largest they are: War Sprite, Ogre, Titan,

and Colossus.

War Sprites are often scouts or forward observers but can also be effective in-fighters

who swarm larger Golems to engage in melee. War Sprites typically have two attacksand one Golem Knight.

Ogres are larger and more sustainable than War Sprites and present a midpoint between

the maneuverability of their smaller cousins and the firepower of the bigger Titans. Ogres

typically have two attacks and one Golem Knight.

Titans are normally the big boys of the battlefield, presenting more limited movement but

substantial sustainability and firepower. Titans typically have three attacks and one

Golem Knight.

Colossus are rare awesome walking mountains of death which may not move fast but

they dont need to. Colossus typically have four attacks and a crew of three Golem

Knights.

Base Size

Golem figures come on one of three base sizes single, double, or quad.

Class Base Size

War Sprite Single

Ogre Single

Titan Double

Colossus Quad

Base size is used in determining legal moves as discussed in several locations below.

Number of Golem Knights

Most Golems only have a single Golem Knight mastering them, with the notable exception of the

Colossus which has three Knights. Since Golem Knights each have a special ability, more

Knights results in more abilities that can be used.

Movement Points

The Movement Point (MP) statistic is the number of movement points a Golem can use per turn

for movement. Most regions (squares) cost 1 movement point to enter, but certain terrain types

can modify this. For example, it takes 2 MP to enter the hills in the prototype.

Diagonal Movement

All Golems can move vertically and horizontally but some Golems can also move diagonally. In

our prototype, if a Golem has this ability it is indicated with a slash / immediately following the

Golems MP value (3/).


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Dodge

A Golems dodge value increases the required die roll an enemy needs to hit it. Higher dodge

values represent Golems that are more difficult to hit.

ArmorIf a Golem is successfully hit by an attack, its damage is reduced by the value of the target

Golems armor.

Health Points

Damage that makes it past a Golems armor reduces its health points. When a Golems health

points are reduced to zero it is removed the game (See Death Mana below for more of what

happens when a Golem is killed).

Attacks

A Golem can have 2-4 attacks, as discussed in the class section above. The player can chooseto use none, some, or all of the attacks available every turn. For example, a Colossus with all of

its attacks available (i.e. none on recharge) could fire all four attacks in a single turn if there were

valid targets available for each attack. Each Golem attack is defined by a set of attributes:

Target type

Golem - the attack is targeted at a single Golem

AOE - the attack is targeted at a region and will affect ALL enemy Golems

in that region. In the final game we envision having AOE attacks which can

do friendly fire damage in addition to attacks which only affect enemy

Golems.

Range

In the prototype, a zero (0) indicates that the attack is a melee attack and

its range cannot be increased. In the final game we will likely indicate this

in a different method to avoid confusion about magical effects which

increase or decrease an attacks range. A range of one (1) is the adjacent

region etc.

Accuracy Bonus

An attacks accuracy bonus value reduces the die roll needed to hit a

target with this attack. More on this in the combat section below.

Damage

The damage of the attack will be reduced by the targets armor.

Recharge Rate

Recharge determines how often an attack can be used. A recharge of one

means that the attack can be used every turn, two means every other

turn, three every third turn, etc. In general more powerful attacks have

longer recharge periods. Any attack that is not being recharged and has a

valid target can be used.


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Attack Effect

Some attacks contain special effects which take place under specific

circumstances. These attack effects are often the building blocks of

players strategies, because they can be chained with other attacks,

Golem Knight abilities, and Ancient Ones blessings, curses, and miracles

creating powerful combination effects. Not all attack effects are positive. Some might be a negative effect on the

attacker to help balance the play of powerful attack. For instance, the

attackers dodge value is temporarily reduced when this attack is used.

Currently, the default trigger to activate an attack effect is for the attack to

succeed. However, if you look through the attack effects of the Golems in

the prototype, you will see a wide variety of triggers required for an attack

effect to be activated and a wide variety of effects when they are activated.

These represent a small subset of the triggers and the attack effects we

intend to include in the final game.

Example Attack Effects

If attack roll is 30 or greater above to hit value, this attack has no recharge added.

If attack succeeds +1 Recharge to random attack on targeted Golem

The prototype Attack Details screen


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Turn Order and Golem ActivationIn Golem Arcana players alternate turns and within each turn each player can use each Golem in

their army.

Movement

Golems can use all their movement points every turn. Moving into an open terrain region costs

one movement point. Terrain types can modify movement point costs and terrain obstructions

can modify ranged attack to-hit values. Once a move or attack is completed with a Golem that

Golem is activated and the player must complete all movement and attacks with that Golem

before moving onto the next Golem.

Once activated, a player can use all of a Golems movement points and any available attacks in

any order desired. This allows players to intermix movement and attacks in any way they wish.For instance, a Golem might use a ranged attack, then move into the same region as the target

to attack it with Golems melee attacks.

The player taps on the region they wish to move to, the App verifies that it

is a legal move, and then the player taps the confirm button on the stylus

or taps the region again to confirm the move.


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Terrain Types and ObstructionsEach region has one terrain type and can additionally have one obstruction type. In the prototype

there were three terrain types open and hills. The open terrain costs 1MP to enter and the hills

cost an additional MP to enter (reflected by a reduction to the Golems MP) but extends therange of ranged attacks by one region when firing from the hills.

The prototypes hills information screen, accessed by simply tapping on

the hills

In the final game we are looking at a regions terrain type establishing the following kinds of

things:

If a region is impassable

Which movement types can enter the region

MP cost modifier to enter the region

Attack range modifiers or similar effects

In the prototype there is no distinction between movement types but in the final game there will

be different movement types such as walking, flying, hoping/hovering, and swimming/wading.

Terrain Obstructions

Obstructions in a region include things like mountains, trees, boulders, buildings, etc which may

impact movement and/or attacks.


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In the final game we are looking for obstructions to provide the following kinds of effects:

Which size of Golem bases are allowed into the region

If melee attacks can be performed in the region

If ranged attacks can pass through the region

If ranged attacks can pass into the region Modify ranged attack to-hit values of attacks that pass into or through the region based

upon the class of the targeted Golem

Modify melee attack to-hit values for attacks that take place within the region based upon

the the class of the targeted Golem

Modify defensive or offensive values based on Codex

The prototype included three types of obstructions mountains, trees and boulders. The

mountain blocked both movement and attacks, the trees and the boulders provided cover as

seen in the screenshot below. Terrain and obstruction information is available at any time by

simply tapping on the region with the TDI stylus.

The prototype Forest information screen, accessed by simply tapping onthe region

Region OccupancyRegions can hold up to four single bases, two double bases, or one quad base. Singles and

doubles can be combined with a region containing one double and two single bases.


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In the prototype, if a Golems base will not physically fit into a region, it cannot enter that region. In

the final game, there will be a Charge mechanic which allows the player to combine a melee

attack with the required number of movement points to enter the occupied region in an attempt to

displace one or more of the Golems in the region to make space for the moving Golem.

Keeping Little Guys AliveOne of the learnings from BattleTech was that smaller Mechs were good early in a game for

scouting etc, but as soon as PPCs started flying they tended to get stomped fast. Occupancy

cover, described below, combined with greater cover for smaller classes of Golems are two of

the ways that the game intends to make smaller Golems more effective for a longer period.

Why Regions?

We knew we wanted a grid based game because it makes the game much more accessible,

but we wanted a game with a wide range of figure sizes. Our initial take was to use a grid sized

to the smallest figure base, but this resulted in complexity around the movement and orientation

of the larger bases. Changing to have the grid sized to the largest base eliminated all theorientation issues as well as providing a simpler solution of area effect attacks and occupancy

cover for smaller Golems which was one of our goals.

CombatThere are two types of combat in Golem Arcana melee and ranged. A melee attack is one in

which both the attacker and the target are in the same region and is signified in the attack

description by showing the range of the attack as zero. A ranged attack is one in which the

attacker and the target ARE NOT in the same region AND in which the number of regions

between the attacker and the target is equal to or less than the range specified in the attack

description. As always the App/Stylus will ensure that both ranged and melee attacks are being

used properly.

Line of Sight (LOS)

Line of sight is often a cause of much spirited debate in miniature games but not in Golem

Arcana because the App and the stylus handle everything. In the game ranged attacks are

considered to be from the center of the region the attacker is in to the center of the region the

target is in. If the line drawn between these two points crosses any part of the region which

blocks fire then the attack is not permitted.


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Prototypes LOS blocked screen, displayed when the player taps a ranged

attack on the active Golem and then the name of an enemy Golem which

cannot be targeted because the line of sight from attacker to target is

blocked by terrain.

Combat Resolution

The prototype currently starts with a base value of 50 (subject to change in the final game) from

which the attacks to-hit value is deducted and then the targets dodge value is added to result inthe dice target. To hit the target the player needs to roll equal to or greater than the dice target on

a D100.


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The player has activated the Urugal Ogre (prototype name of figure),

tapped on its Plague attack, and then on the Hamazi Preserver (not

named that in the prototype). The screen shows that the player needs to

roll 24 or better to hit the target, if he does he will do 3 points of damage

and the Preserver currently has 65 health points before the attack is

resolved.

Terrain Obstruction ModifiersIf the LOS crosses any region which contains terrain obstructions the to-hit modifier values from

those obstructions are included in the to-hit calculations. This, of course, includes the

obstruction modifiers and occupation modifies for the region that the target Golem is in.

Occupancy Cover

When multiple Golems are in the same region, the larger Golems provide cover for the smaller

Golems modifying the to-hit value of incoming ranged attacks. Smaller Golems gain this cover

benefit from both friendly and enemy larger Golems, so sometimes the best move may be to

close with an enemy to improve the chances of surviving a lot of incoming ranged attacks.

Blessings and Curses

As discussed above, blessings and curses can be placed in regions to provide buffs and debuffs

that can modify attack to-hit calculations, damage calculations, attacks recharges, movement,

mana, etc.


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Continuing the previous example, the dice target of 24 was arrived at by

starting with the base of 50, subtracting the attacks accuracy bonus and

an applicable curse, and then adding the targets dodge, the boulders

obstruction value appropriate for the class of the target Golem, and an

applicable blessing. The expected damage for the attack, as shown on the

previous screen, is 3 which is arrived at by taking the base damage of the

attack, subtracting the armor of the target Golem, and the effects of an

applicable blessing. Note: The screen states 0 damage because thedamage has not yet been done.

Lucky and Critical Hits

In Golem Arcana rolling doubles is always good. Rolling a double above the to-hit target results

in a Critical Hit which doubles the damage of the attack. In the prototype the effective damage (i.e

after subtracting the targets armor and other modifiers) is whats doubled, but we are

considering doubling the attacks damage and then subtracting targets armor and other

modifiers for the final version of the game. If the attacker had rolled a double that was below the

to-hit dice target then the miss would become a hit and is called a lucky hit.


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The player rolls the digital dice and gets a 33 which is a critical hit, thus

doubling the expected damage from 3 to 6, and reducing the target

Golems HP from 65 to 59.

Mining Mana and Death Mana

Mining Mana

At the start of most games, the App randomly distributes mana in different concentrations into

every region of the battlefield (unless a given scenario calls for something different). The levels of

concentration of each regions mana is secret in the prototype but in the final game there will be

some Golem Knights whose magical ability will be divining the location of mana. At the start of

each turn the players Golem Knights mine one point of mana from the region they are in - if

that region still has any mana remaining in it. In other words, if a regions mana has been

exhausted (i.e. mined out) then it will no longer provide mana.


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The glowing green regions indicate that the player has earned a point of

mana from that region this turn. The grayed out regions indicate that those

regions have been exhausted of mana for the remainder of the game. The

white energy beaming down from the heavens indicates a blessing has

been placed in that region and the black energy represents a curse has

been placed in that region.

TurtlingThis game dynamic discourages turtling (i.e. staying in one place for the majority of the game)

as the player will stop gaining mana after the mana has been exhausted in the region or regions

in which he has taken up residency.

Death Mana

The other way to gain mana is when a Golem is killed. Golems are created by Blood Mages, like

Blood Knights they are descendants of the Ancient Ones, who following the teachings of the

Codexes activate the mana found in different natural materials and then bind the materials

together with a high concentration of additional mana. When a Golem is destroyed the mana

captured in the magical construct is liberated and flows through the armys Blood Knight(s) tothe Ancient Ones. In the prototype 33% of the Golems army point value was given to the players

Ancient Ones when one of his or her Golems was destroyed - but like everything else the

conversion ratio from army points to mana will likely be different in the final version of the game.

Catch-Up Mechanic

In most miniature games, including BattleTech, the player that loses the first figure or two is

pretty sure that he or she is going to lose the game - its just going to take all afternoon to find out


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exactly how badly they are going to lose. The releasing of mana upon death is designed to blunt

a players downhill slide because while they may have lost a Golem they have gained a valuable

resource in the form of the blessings, curses, and miracles that this mana allows them to

purchase from the Ancient Ones that they selected for their army. Even in the badly balanced

prototype we saw many people lose one or even two figures and then be able to turn the game

around via the strategic use the Ancient Ones powers the mana afforded them.

Ancient OnesWhich, if any, Ancient Ones to include in your army is part of the strategic decisions that army

building represents in Golem Arcana. How the blessings, curses, and miracles offered by the

various Ancient Ones interact with the Golems of your army and the Golem Knights abilities can

determine you later game tactics.

In the prototype, the Urugal army included two Ancient Ones and the

Durani army only one.

Blessings and Curses

In the prototype blessings and curses are team or codex specific buffs and debuffs which are

placed into a region and remain there for the rest of the game unless modified by a player.

Players can spend mana to activate as many blessings and curses as they want throughout

their turn with the limitation that each region can only have one blessing and one curse at a time.

Knight special abilities will include the ability to move and dispel blessings and/or curses.


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Miracles

An Ancient Ones miracle provides an instant benefit to ALL of the Golems of the same codex as

the Ancient One in a players army. The prototype incorporated a small number of miracles but

we have a lot of ideas that we are anxious to try out.

Example Blessing, Curses, and Miracles

Blessing: All friendly golems in this region gain 10 armor. (Mana Cost: 10)

Blessing: All friendly golems in this region gain +1 range to attacks that have 1 or greater

range. (Mana Cost: 8)

Curse: Any enemy golem in this region has it's movement reduced by 1 (minimum 1).

(Mana Cost: 5)

Curse: Any enemy golem in this square has all their attack ranges greater than 2 reduced

to 1. (Mana Cost: 6)

Miracle: Any golem that hits on their attack this turn also pushes the target one region.

(Mana Cost: 7)

Golem Knights and Blood KnightsEvery Golem must have a Golem Knight to master it into combat. All Golems are considered to

have a generic Golem Knight with no magical ability as its master unless the player opts to

assign a named Golem Knight to a Golem via the App.

Named Golem Knights each have a magical ability that can modify, enhance, or augment the

capabilities of their Golem or the Golems around them, or the Knights ability can can provide

additional non-combat abilities such as mana discovery or healing. All Knight abilities have an

associated recharge value which determines how often they can use the ability.

Golem Knight abilities can be extremely diverse as can be seen in the ones used in the

prototype. The six abilities of the prototype represent a small fraction of the ideas we have for the

Knights abilities, and we learned that some of the ones in the prototype are too narrow in their

usage and/or just to esoteric - thats what prototypes and playtesting are all about :)

During the game Blood Knights function exactly like Golem Knights. If the Golem that a Blood

Knight is assigned too is killed the player does not lose access to the Ancient One associated

with that Blood Knight.

Example Knight Abilities

All enemies in this golem's current region: -10 dodge to ranged attacks for the remainder

of this turn. (Recharge: 2)

Friendly units that start their turn in the same region in which this Knights golem has

ended their turn get +1 MP for the remainder of their turn. (Recharge: 2)


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Back to the CaveatEverything that we have shown and discussed in the videos and in this document reflect the very

early development stage of Golem Arcana. While the prototype has demonstrated the functioning

of the technology and that the core game dynamics are fun and accessible while still containingthe depth to remain interesting and challenging - it is far from a finished game and thus much is

likely to change during development.

This is a big project that involves game design, unit balancing, hardware design, software

design, figure sculpting, production tooling, and story development - and it will not exist without

the support of you - the backers.

AppendixHere are all of the specifics from the prototype that we demoed at GenCon and PAX. Remember

that they are first drafts and thus not really representative of what final balanced units will look

like. All the names of the Golem figures have changed to those presented on the Kickstarter

page.

Golem Knights

Durani Knights:

Captain Roche (piloting the Durani Harpy Warsprite)

All enemies in this golem's current region: -10 dodge to ranged attacks for

the remainder of this turn. (Recharge: 2)

Nix 'Squint' Hawken" (piloting the Durani Spitting Ram Ogre)

Target hit by a successful attack gains no terrain bonus from their region

for the remainder of the turn. (Recharge: 3)

Urugal Knights:

Thanto Jant (piloting the Urugual Thief Warsprite)

If Knights golem has one or more attacks recharging, available attacks

gain +10 damage (Recharge: 2)

Whip Wazillo (piloting the Urugal Spiker Thief)

Friendly units that start their turn in the same region in which this Knight's

golem has ended their turn get +1 SPD for the remainder of their turn.

(Recharge: 2)

Blood Knights

Durani Blood Knight:

Baron Verstruch (piloting the Durani Stone Knight Titan)

Move one Durani Blessing from this region to one adjacent region of the

player's choice (Recharge: 2)


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Urugal Blood Knight:

Mana-Witch Galosi (piloting the Urugal Ogre)

Gain one mana for each successful hit by this golem for the remainder of

the turn. (Recharge: 3)

Ancient Ones Durani-Dimtu

Vision of Durani Miracle:

Durani recharges are reduced by 2, instead of 1, at end of this turn. (Mana

Cost: 6)

Protection of Durani Blessing:

All Durani golems in this region gain 10 armor. (Mana Cost: 10)

Wall of Durani Curse:

Any non-Durani golem in this region has it's movement reduced by 1

(minimum 1). (Mana Cost: 5)

Urugal-Daku Fate of Urugal Miracle:

All Urugal golems heal 10 damage. (Mana Cost: 7)

Power of Urugal Blessing:

All Urugal golems in this region gain +10 Accuracy Bonus. (Mana Cost: 9)

Punishment of Urugal Curse:

Any non-Urugal golems in this region receives a -15 dodge (Mana Cost: 5)

Urugal-Lul

Force of Urugal Miracle:

Any golem that hits on their attack also pushes the target one region.

(Mana Cost: 7) Eye of Urugal Blessing:

All Urugal golems in this region gain +1 range to attacks that have 1 or

greater range. (Mana Cost: 8)

The test of Urugal Curse:

Any non-Urugal golem in this square has all their attack ranges greater

than 2 reduced to 1. (Mana Cost: 6)

Golem Cards

In addition to tapping on the base of the Golem figures you can tap on the Golem cards. The final

cards will be traditional trading card size.


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